IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/anture/v112y2025ics0160738325000416.html

Visitors' cognitive vaccines: Self-reflection on dissonant narratives after heritage tourism experiences

Author

Listed:
  • Soulard, Joelle
  • Russell, Zachary

Abstract

This study innovatively transposes inoculation theory to heritage tourism contexts, exploring how visitors critically engage with dissonant narratives. While previous research has examined external factors shaping dissonant heritage, less attention has been given to how visitors reflect on and engage with these narratives. Understanding these cognitive processes is crucial, as heritage sites often serve as spaces where visitors question their broader worldviews. Employing an informed grounded theory approach, we conducted in-depth interviews with 40 visitors across several heritage sites. We find that visitors engage in a dynamic process of cognitive inoculation, where exposure to diverse onsite perspectives enhances their media literacy and equips them with skills to critically assess and reflect on complex heritage narratives.

Suggested Citation

  • Soulard, Joelle & Russell, Zachary, 2025. "Visitors' cognitive vaccines: Self-reflection on dissonant narratives after heritage tourism experiences," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:112:y:2025:i:c:s0160738325000416
    DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2025.103935
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160738325000416
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.annals.2025.103935?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Booyens, Irma & Hoogendoorn, Gijsbert, 2025. "Theorising township tourism: Moving beyond the ‘slum’," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    2. Yang Liu & Karine Dupre & Xin Jin, 2021. "A systematic review of literature on contested heritage," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 442-465, February.
    3. Melis, Claudia & Chambers, Donna, 2021. "The construction of intangible cultural heritage: A Foucauldian critique," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    4. Bryce, Derek & Čaušević, Senija, 2019. "Orientalism, Balkanism and Europe's Ottoman heritage," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 92-105.
    5. Soulard, Joelle & Lundin, Emma, 2023. "Docents as transformative educators of travelers," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    6. Gillen, Jamie & Mostafanezhad, Mary, 2019. "Geopolitical encounters of tourism: A conceptual approach," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 70-78.
    7. Kennell, James & Šuligoj, Metod, 2024. "Conceptualising dark events: A new framework," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    8. Chaney, Damien & Brassier, Pascal, 2024. "Destruction of heritage, community and anthropomorphism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    9. Bryce, Derek & Murdy, Samantha & Alexander, Matthew, 2017. "Diaspora, authenticity and the imagined past," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 49-60.
    10. Ivanova, Milka & Buda, Dorina-Maria, 2020. "Thinking rhizomatically about communist heritage tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    11. Lundin, Emma & Soulard, Joelle, 2025. "Residents' engagements in post-disaster tourism: Creating composite accounts out of social practices," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    12. Elizabeth Carnegie & Jerzy Kociatkiewicz, 2019. "Occupying whateverland : journeys to museums in the Baltic," Post-Print hal-02395507, HAL.
    13. James, Sophie & Cronin, James & Patterson, Anthony, 2024. "“If you like your history horrible”: The obscene supplementarity of thanatourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    14. Ivanov, Bobi & Dillingham, Lindsay L. & Parker, Kimberly A. & Rains, Stephen A. & Burchett, Molly & Geegan, Sarah, 2018. "Sustainable attitudes: Protecting tourism with inoculation messages," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 26-34.
    15. Cecilie S. Traberg & Jon Roozenbeek & Sander van der Linden, 2022. "Psychological Inoculation against Misinformation: Current Evidence and Future Directions," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 136-151, March.
    16. Farrelly, Francis & Kock, Florian & Josiassen, Alexander, 2019. "Cultural heritage authenticity: A producer view," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Goulding, Christina & Pressey, Andrew, 2023. "A palimpsestic analysis of atmospheres at dark tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    18. Packer, Jan & Ballantyne, Roy & Uzzell, David, 2019. "Interpreting war heritage: Impacts of Anzac museum and battlefield visits on Australians' understanding of national identity," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 105-116.
    19. Rugkhapan, Napong Tao, 2023. "Linear tourism, multiculturalism, creative district: The case of Charoenkrung creative district in Thailand," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    20. Fabio Carbone, 2024. "War-related attractions: ‘the good, the bad, or the ugly’? War museums between peace, national identity and war porn," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(5), pages 679-688, March.
    21. Zhang, Yachen & Moyle, Brent & Lohmann, Gui & de Oliveira, Renan Peres & Chang, Lu & Weaver, David, 2023. "A social identity perspective on dark tourism impacts," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    22. Anastasiadou, Constantia & Pilcher, Nick & Gutu, Mavis & Panyik, Emese, 2023. "EU tourism and student identities in a pre-BREXIT UK," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    23. Carnegie, Elizabeth & Kociatkiewicz, Jerzy, 2019. "Occupying whateverland: Journeys to museums in the Baltic," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 238-247.
    24. Matthew J. Bauman & Jingxue (Jessica) Yuan & Helena A. Williams, 2020. "Developing a measure for assessing tourists’ empathy towards natural disasters in the context of wine tourism and the 2017 California wildfires," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(19), pages 2476-2491, October.
    25. Johnstone, Jane Hamilton & Bryce, Derek & Alexander, Matthew, 2023. "Irreconcilability of heritage missions: Personalized and general tourism audiences," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    26. Wight, A. Craig, 2016. "Lithuanian genocide heritage as discursive formation," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 60-78.
    27. Adu-Ampong, Emmanuel Akwasi, 2023. "The embodied absence of the past: Slavery heritage and the transformative memory work of tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    28. Pfoser, Alena & Yusupova, Guzel, 2022. "Memory and the everyday geopolitics of tourism: Reworking post-imperial relations in Russian tourism to the ‘near abroad’," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    29. Huang, Chengkun & Xu, Hong, 2025. "From indigenous villages to World Heritage Sites: Structural violence in spatial transformation," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    30. Damien Chaney & Pascal Brassier, 2024. "Destruction of Heritage, Community and Anthropomorphism," Post-Print hal-04869831, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Yachen & Moyle, Brent & Lohmann, Gui & de Oliveira, Renan Peres & Chang, Lu & Weaver, David, 2023. "A social identity perspective on dark tourism impacts," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. Lundin, Emma & Soulard, Joelle, 2025. "Residents' engagements in post-disaster tourism: Creating composite accounts out of social practices," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    3. Farrelly, Francis & Kock, Florian & Josiassen, Alexander, 2019. "Cultural heritage authenticity: A producer view," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Rickly, Jillian M., 2022. "A review of authenticity research in tourism: Launching the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on authenticity," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    5. Soulard, Joelle & Lundin, Emma, 2023. "Docents as transformative educators of travelers," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    6. Elizabeth Carnegie & Jerzy Kociatkiewicz, 2022. "Dances with despots: tourists and the afterlife of statues," Post-Print hal-03196901, HAL.
    7. Lin Meng & Chuanguang Zhu & Jie Pu & Bo Wen & Wentao Si, 2022. "Study on the Influence Mechanism of Intangible Cultural Heritage Distribution from Man–Land Relationship Perspective: A Case Study in Shandong Province," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-18, August.
    8. Sahil Singh Jasrotia & Manoj Kumar Kamila & Vinod Kumar Patel, 2023. "Impact of Sustainable Tourism on Tourist’s Satisfaction: Evidence from India," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 11(2), pages 173-189, May.
    9. Stoffelen, Arie, 2024. "A REVIEW OF TOURISM AND BORDERING PROCESSES: Launching the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on tourism and territorial borders," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    10. Palazzo, Maria & Vollero, Agostino & Vitale, Pierluigi & Siano, Alfonso, 2021. "Urban and rural destinations on Instagram: Exploring the influencers’ role in #sustainabletourism," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    11. Dawei Li & Shangyi Zhou, 2021. "Evaluating the Authenticity of Naxi Music in Three Stages from the Perspective of Naxi Musicians: An Application of Lacan’s Mirror Stage Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-18, March.
    12. Bang Nguyen-Viet & Si Van Nguyen, 2023. "Authentic Experience, Place Attachment, and Behavioral Intention: Vietnamese Religious Tourism," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    13. Su, Lujun & Ye, Chengzhi & He, Xuehuan, 2025. "The memory effect of destination dialect advertising," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    14. Stefania Środa-Murawska & Elżbieta Grzelak-Kostulska & Jadwiga Biegańska & Leszek S. Dąbrowski, 2021. "Culture and Sustainable Tourism: Does the Pair Pay in Medium-Sized Cities?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-26, August.
    15. Yanfang Zeng & Rui Xu, 2021. "An Exploration of the Relationships between Nostalgia, Involvement, and Behavioral Intention in Diaspora Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, November.
    16. Gabriel Miao Li & Josh Pasek & Jon A. Krosnick & Tobias H. Stark & Jennifer Agiesta & Gaurav Sood & Trevor Tompson & Wendy Gross, 2022. "Americans’ Attitudes toward the Affordable Care Act: What Role Do Beliefs Play?," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 41-54, March.
    17. Joachim Osheyor Gidiagba & Joy Otibhor Olurin & Vincent Ebhohime Ehiaguina & Tina Chinyere Ndiwe & Gabriel Gbenga Ojo & Oluwaseun Ayo Ogunjobi, 2023. "Safety, Quality Control, And Sustainability In Construction: Exploring The Nexus – A Review," Engineering Heritage Journal (GWK), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 7(1), pages 72-93, November.
    18. Neuhofer, Barbara & Dulbecco, Maria Laura, 2024. "The phases of self in transformative experiences," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    19. Heather Kennedy-Eden & Ulrike Gretzel, 2021. "My heritage in my pocket: mobile device and app use by genealogy tourists," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 327-350, September.
    20. Jiafeng Gu, 2024. "The impact of national tourism day festivals on inbound tourism: A spatial difference-in-differences approach," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(2), pages 417-441, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:112:y:2025:i:c:s0160738325000416. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/annals-of-tourism-research/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.